Parking at Management Risk : Supreme Court

A customer of the Taj Hotel in Delhi gave his car for valet parking and found his vehicle was theft from the parking. The hotel had argued that the valet parking ticket clearly states that the vehicle will be parked at the guest’s own risk and responsibility and that the management will not be responsible for any loss, theft or damage.

As customer filed a petition against the Hotel the Supreme Court bench of Justices Mohan Shantanagoudar and Ajay Rastogi on Thursday stated that in an arrangement of valet parking, once the customer hands over the keys of his car to the valet, the possession of the car is transferred from the customer to the hotel and thus, a ‘relationship of bailment’ is established. Bailment refers to the transfer of personal property from one person to another either for safekeeping or for the other person to control or use temporarily.